Far from the loyal deputy that shied from taking on his boss head-on, Deputy President William Ruto has now boldly taken a stand against President Uhuru Kenyatta, directly responding to what he sees as attacks from him as the 2022 succession politics gather steam.
The DP, now keen to go it all alone and daring President Kenyatta to assemble a team against him, has directly responded to the President publicly six times.
Yesterday, Dr Ruto continued his criticism of his boss, questioning the decision to leave out five judges from a list sent to him for appointment by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), one of the many issues he has attacked him on. The Head of State, the DP said, was supposed to appoint all the judges first to allow JSC to launch investigations into what the judges are being accused of.
High Court judges Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Aggrey Muchelule and Weldon Korir were among those left out.
Justices Ngugi and Odunga were on the five-judge High Court bench that declared illegal the President’s BBI to change the Constitution.
“From my own opinion, if there are issues of corruption, integrity with these judges, there are enough laws, and the Constitution gives a way forward on the matter,” Dr Ruto said in an interview with Radio Jambo.
“They can be appointed. Some of these issues could have been tabled before the interviews so that JSC could ask them during the interviews.”
He added: “Since all these allegations were not tabled before interviews, therefore, let them (the judges) be sworn in then those issues be submitted to JSC, who will follow the right procedure. If there are integrity issues with the judges, the normal process involves a tribunal. Then those judges would be subjected to due process. When God will bless me to be the President, I will follow what the Constitution says. It is very unfair to be condemned unheard.”
In the ongoing debate on BBI constitutional amendment drive, with President Kenyatta at the centre, the DP yesterday termed it a waste of time and not a panacea for chaotic elections, adding that it is a ploy to create executive positions for what he described as ‘tribal chiefs’.
“The big problem is in elections. Even now we are wasting time by changing the Constitution. We can change it 100 times but if the one who is defeated does not concede, he will still bring issues and even swear himself in,” he said in an attack aimed at former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The DP said the woes facing Kenya do not relate to the Constitution, but the economy, and they must be sorted out.
On Sunday, Dr Ruto answered President Kenyatta, asking him to allow him to work for hustlers in defence of his campaign slogan that has agitated rivals.
Days after the President praised the ODM leader and Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka “for their support of infrastructure development unlike other leaders who were only hoodwinking the youth”, Dr Ruto fired back, saying he had helped Mr Kenyatta win the presidency twice and Mr Odinga the premiership in 2008.
The DP said it was now the time to help hustlers and uplift their living standards, adding he did not understand the fuss about his hustler campaign.
Earlier last month in West Pokot and subsequently in Nakuru, the DP castigated his boss ‘for letting down the millions who voted for the Jubilee Party’ after it emerged that the ruling party and ODM were crafting a coalition.
Dr Ruto, in an uncharacteristic manner, also in early June accused his boss of neglecting Jubilee supporters after it emerged that the President was likely to endorse one of the Nasa chiefs in next year’s polls.
Paradoxically, Dr Ruto yesterday maintained that he is the one leader who respects the Head of State, arguing that if he had issues with his boss, he could have launched a push-and-pull after he was sidelined and his responsibilities given to another person.
In most media interviews, the DP wilfully dodges any question touching on his relationship with his boss and in most cases, he says he cannot talk about his boss with anyone.
However, allies of the President led by Jubilee deputy Secretary-General Joshua Kutuny, the Cherang’any MP, said the DP had come out strongly to take his boss head-on after realising that he no longer enjoys the support of the President. “We are well prepared for the manner in which Ruto attacks the President. He is an enemy of Jubilee after he realised that President Kenyatta might be having his own candidate for 2022,” he told the Nation.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu said the DP is not emboldened but desperate thinking that the Head of State will broker a political truce with him ahead of next year’s poll.
Political analyst and University of Nairobi don Prof XN Iraki opines that recent election wins by political parties associated with Dr Ruto might be the reason he is facing his boss head-on. “His party’s victory in Juja and Rurii might have emboldened him. The psychology of his followers might also explain his boldness,” he said.
Political analyst and governance expert Javas Bigambo has insisted that the DP’s camp is also being bold deliberately to identify their enemies and true friends early enough so that they can create their bases for loyalty.
But according to some observers, led by his ally-turned-foe Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok, Dr Ruto is not in direct confrontation with Mr Kenyatta but rather reaching out to the public ahead of the 2022 polls. “I do not think in my view the DP is taking his boss head-on. Given that we are now on the eve of the election year, the DP is speaking directly to the Kenyan public and is firmly projecting that he is a strong and serious candidate for the presidency come 2022.”
